Courtesy of David Powers
The concept for Boxwood Biscuit Co. is nothing revolutionary, says chef Tyler Minnis.
“Who doesn’t like chicken and biscuits?” he says.
The key, for the Short North fast-casual joint, is making it stand out.
“We do it our own way to try and be a little different,” Minnis says. “I try to push food and try to do things a little different than other people in town, or else what’s the point?”
Boxwood began as a pop-up during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The shop operated on weekends out the side of Law Bird, a Brewery District space run by Boxwood’s owners, husband-and-wife team Luke and Annie Williams Pierce, since 2019. The concept initially sold buttermilk biscuits, biscuit sandwiches and biscuit-and-gravy flights under the kitchen direction of Minnis.
A desire to stand out led Boxwood to collaborate with Hot Chicken Takeover in October 2020, a partnership that solidified the concept that would ultimately become Boxwood’s brick-and-mortar offering.
Courtesy of David Powers
“We’ve always done the biscuits part,” Williams Pierce says. “When we collaborated with HCT, that was a major event for us and got our brains working. If we were going to go for our own space, we needed to be more than just breakfast, and fried chicken seemed to be the perfect item to transition our menu into the lunch hours, too.”
Boxwood’s chicken is fried using a Korean batter method instead of the traditional Southern style, one of many subtle Asian influences permeating the menu.
“It kind of has an underlying Asian feel or theme to it that some people may not pick up on,” Minnis says. “I didn’t want to do too obvious because it is an Appalachian, Southern-style restaurant for the most part.”
In addition to the Korean-style fried chicken, Minnis says, the kimchi braised greens, a Firebird sandwich with chicken dunked in a hot Asian glaze, and pork sausage miso gravy add to the underlying theme of the menu.
The biscuits come from a more traditional source: Minnis’ great-grandmother’s recipe. Of course, even that has been adapted.
“I actually did about 12 different variations until we landed on this one,” Minnis says.
Some of the experimentation with the menu for Boxwood, as well as the concept, can be credited to the pandemic.
In 2020, Esquire included Law Bird on its list of the best bars in America. By then, Law Bird had been forced into closing, along with the rest of Ohio, after just four months open for business. Minnis and the Pierces made the most of their time in quarantine, though, initially by turning Law Bird into more of a retail store for bottled cocktails. One collaboration led to another until Boxwood opened its doors this past March.
Courtesy of David Powers
“(One) of the things that … we are all proud of is the fact that this grew out of just an idea during quarantine where people weren’t doing a lot of things, just sitting at home.We were trying to stay busy and be creative,” Minnis says. “It obviously still is a tough time for restaurants in general, but we were able to figure it out and grow it. We’re still in our first year over here and we have our challenges, but I think we’re proud that it’s come from pop-up to brick-and-mortar.”
Evidence of that growth remains in the menu’s Franklin Feature Club, a rotating sandwich special originating from the restaurant’s Indiegogo campaign. Supporters could donate to earn the right to design one of the feature sandwiches with Minnis.
“Every month we launch a new person’s sandwich,” Minnis says. “Everybody can keep an eye out for the rotating sandwich specials from the Columbus community, which is kind of cool.”
Boxwood Biscuit Co. is located at 19 W. Russell St. and is open 7:30 a.m.-3p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.
Claire Miller is the assistant editor. Feedback is welcome at cmiller@cityscenemediagroup.com.
